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It has been a while since my friend Chris and I went to London and walked a section of the Capital Ring, but despite the cold weather that is what we did today. When I say cold, it was only around freezing but still a lot colder than I am used to walking in. Despite the cold this has to have been one of my favourite sections of the walk.

We started back at Finsbury Park railway station and headed across the Finsbury Park and on to Clissold Park and Stoke Newington. Here the path took us through Abney Park Cemetery, which is a lovely cemetery which although it looks overgrown and neglected is actually a nature reserve and conservation area. There are some amazing memorials here and I could have spent hours exploring, one of the most prominent graves is that pictured below of William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.

From Stoke Newington the path continues in a north-eastern direction to Springfield Park and the River Lea, the walk then follows the river roughly south-east. There was quite a lot of activity on the river (narrowboats, canoes and swans) and the path follows this until Old Ford Lock, where the path joins The Greenway.

The Greenway is another named path which is along the top of a sewer. I have followed many things over my years of walking, from disused railways to rivers and canals, but I think this is the first time I have followed a sewer. The sewer in question is the Northern Outfall Sewer and it is elevated above the surroundings, giving some great views.

The Greenway crosses the site of the London 2012 olympics and there are excellent views of the construction works in progress. The photo above shows the main olympic stadium to the north of The Greenway. Although it looks quite bright, the weather took a turn for the worse, it didn’t actually rain (or snow) but it did come over very dark and threatening.

Further along The Greenway there were some interesting views across to Canary Wharf (pictured below), acting as a reminder that we are nearing the end of the Capital Ring, on the bank of the River Thames. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we will be back up to London to complete the final section before Christmas.